His Possessions
by Taywen
Summary: '"Don't worry too much, Tsunayoshi-kun," Mukuro tells him mildly. Tsuna doesn't know what, exactly, he's not supposed to worry too much about.' AU: What if Mukuro succeeded in possessing Tsuna? 6927, mentions of others. Muku-centric. Chapter 3 is up.
1. A New Beginning

Disclaimer: KHR! does not in any way belong to me, it's the property of Amano, etc.

* * *

**Prologue: A New Beginning**

He wakes up in hell.

That is his first thought anyway. The place stinks of fear and suffering and despair – with a thin veneer of sterility, disinfectant and latex, like a hospital. He can hear callous adults discussing something. It takes him a moment to decipher their words: they are discussing their experiments. Underneath this conversation, he hears whimpering and moaning – sounds of obviously frightened children. He is lying on a cold metal table, perhaps one used in operations or the like. His right eye throbs, and the rest of his body aches.

He decides it isn't hell. He knows hell, has walked through it and emerged relatively unscathed and stronger for the experience. It is close enough though. At least the people stuck in hell deserve to be there. He is fairly certain he does not deserve it; his last memory is of dying, to save another. His last life was lived to protect others.

His next thought is: _One request. One fucking request. I give my life for her, and she couldn't even do that for me._ Rage washes through him, but he is too out of sorts to maintain it.

He opens his eyes (his right appears to be covered) then shuts them immediately as blinding white light assaults them.

"He's awake!" someone says excitedly. He flinches, knowing instinctively that they are referring to him.

Suddenly there are many people crowding around him, though thankfully none touch him.

Mustering his strength, he slits his eyes open. At first he simply sees white with blurs of shadow where he knows he should see people studying him intently. A few moments later they resolve into faces – but most are deformed or stitched up in places. Given that light still manages to filter through to his right eye, he decides that a light bandage must be covering it.

"Do you know who you are?" another voice asks, eager anticipation poorly hidden. He glances dully at the speaker, as if he doesn't understand what they're asking. Of course he knows who he is; a dozen names, a dozen personas, identities, spring to his mind, and he also knows who this body used to belong too. He pretends not to, not until he can determine what these people want.

(And he is almost one-hundred percent certain he will not go along with them.)

A disappointed sigh from another of the people who are crowding around him. "That woman said implanting the eye would give _him_ control over this body."

This time the rage comes, and stays. He will kill them all, and then track her down and... What? Demand an explanation? Pretend like nothing happened and resume protecting her? He thinks not. Something along the lines of slow, agonizing death sounds more appropriate. And so what if he protected her in his previous life? She paid him back with betrayal, so it is only fair that he returns the favour.

"Do you know about the six paths of rebirth?" the first voice asks him, and his gaze flickers over to the speaker. Perhaps they sense his anger, because they take a step back.

A small part of him feels sorrow; he had trusted her, and now she had betrayed him. Not only that, but it seemed as if she had spilled almost all of his secrets. But mostly he feels rage.

He gathers his strength – this body is young, weak (malnourished?) and definitely not an ideal host. But he will make do. Besides, he has the element of surprise. Focusing his energy into his left hand, he summons his trident.

"She told us he would-" someone begins to say, and he slashes their throat open. The spray of blood is not unfamiliar, and then they are dead. He has already moved on to the next.

Some of the other children attempt to come to the adults' aid. He kills them too.

When he stops, two others are all that remain, staring at him with a mixture of fear and awe. Blood is splattered on the walls, and on himself.

He chuckles bitterly, the habitual sound transformed into something unfamiliar when it emerges from this young body's mouth. No matter; he will become accustomed to it, as he always has.

"This world is worthless," he states, ripping the bandage away from his right eye. "I'll erase it all." He turns to regard the two survivors fully, a dark smirk on his lips. "Do you want to come with me?"

And so it begins.

* * *

Whew. I'm kind of trying something new with my writing style for this story. And in case it's not obvious, this is from Mukuro's perspective, except he will never be referred to as such, unless the story is being told by someone else's perspective.

So. . What did you think of it? Feedback/criticism is always appreciated.


	2. Kokuyo Land

Disclaimer: KHR! does not in any way belong to me, it's the property of Amano, etc.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Kokuyo Land  
**

He decides on taking the name 'Mukuro Rokudo'. Rokudo, after all, means 'six paths'. He wonders if anyone will ever notice, then dismisses it as insignificant.

Thanks to Ken and Chikusa, the two who survived, he learns that the three of them were test subjects for the Estraneo family. He kills the rest of the family, takes what he thinks will be useful, and destroys the rest.

His body is too weak to accomplish what he wants. He is still a child, and that irritates him. But he will wait however long it takes for this body to fully mature. Make a name for himself. He wonders if she will realize who he is. He hopes she does, hopes she worries, hopes she panics. Her end will not be quick. He does not owe her anything, and she decided her debt to him was insignificant.

That was her mistake.

But first, he must find himself allies until he is strong enough to stand alone. Ken and Chikusa are strong, will certainly become stronger with training, and they are both completely loyal to him. There was a time when he might have felt guilty about taking advantage of their trust in this way. That time is long past.

xx

He is taken into a mafia family in northern Italy. They are not powerful, but they are not weak either. He finds the strongest man with the weakest will, subjugates the man to his own will, and has that man (his name is Lancia) destroy the family that raised him.

They are now an army of four, three children (well, adolescents now – but they are still children in all things that matter) and one delusional, unstable man. Of course, four is hardly an army, and within a few years they are captured and locked in Vendicare Prison. He allows their capture though; he thinks that he might be able to find more allies within the cold walls of the mafia's strongest prison.

To his disappointment, few inmates stand out. He recruits a greedy girl named M.M. who seems more interested in him than in his goals. No matter, feelings of attraction and devotion are easy to manipulate. He also finds a disgusting man named Birds. He might be a mafia criminal, but even he has standards. Under normal circumstances, he would never work with the man, but he controls a pair of psychopath twins who might be useful, so he stifles his distaste and allies himself with Birds.

Lancia, who these mafia fools mistakenly believe is actually Mukuro Rokudo, is set to be executed for his crimes. Apparently organized crime frowns upon their own methods being turned against them. Surprising.

The day before Lancia's execution, he breaks out, taking Ken, Chikusa and Lancia with him. He leaves M.M. and Birds with orders to break out later and rendezvous with him in Japan.

An inmate (a member of the Todd family) in prison remarked within his hearing that the heir of the Vongola is being trained there. He sees it as a perfect opportunity; take control of the future Vongola boss, and his plans will certainly come to fruition much faster with the strongest mafia family under his control.

xx

Of course, everyone knows how the story goes after this.

Or do they?

xx

Sawada Tsunayoshi proves to be a pleasant surprise – though the boy is as naive and inexperienced as he had expected, Tsuna also displayed hidden qualities beyond anything he could have hoped for. Qualities startlingly reminiscent of the Vongola Primo... But he would have plenty of time to reflect on this fact later.

He has not expected the Arcobaleno's interference either; but in the end, he still manages to pierce Tsuna with his trident.

And this is where things become strange. He is accustomed to a body's host resisting his possession, yet in the end he has always triumphed...until now. Typically the body's host is unprepared for an assault on their very spirit, whether they were simply caught unawares or unconscious, but there have been times when he has had to possess someone who was actively attempting to avoid it.

But Tsuna's resistance is on a whole different level from this. The boy's spirit, he supposes, is simply too strong. He was considerably weakened after Tsuna had purified his aura, but he still ought to have been strong enough for this. Except he wasn't.

Tsuna's consciousness forcefully repelled his own, and the boy dispatched him. Defeated, he lay on the wooden floor of the decrepit building he'd chosen as his base, semi-conscious and unable to resist the Vindice recapturing him.

He couldn't remember the last time he'd experienced defeat on a level such as this.

xx

It is only after he finds the darling Nagi that he realizes it, unwittingly stumbling upon it during one of his walks.

He is disinterestedly exploring an already familiar landscape; even this beats the monotony, the utter darkness and silence of his water prison within Vendicare. Even self-created delusions are better than that abyss of nothing.

"Mukuro-san?" That familiar voice, lacking the cool, commanding tone it had taken on after the Arcobaleno had used the special shot. The voice of the one who thwarted him.

_Impossible_, he thinks.

* * *

I know, a wait of 2 months, and this is it? I even skimmed over the Kokuyo Arc, because I'm awesome like that - well, mostly because I tried writing it, but got really bored because it was all summary. Hopefully I will be a bit prompter on the next chapter... But please don't get your hopes up. :P

Next chapter will be from Tsuna's POV, whenever I get it up. School's a bitch, and all that. (Also, I'm probably saying something you've heard a hundred times before, but what the heck FF, you took out my dashes that broke of the sections of the chapter! :I)

Anyway, any feedback/criticism is appreciated, as always.


	3. Just a Dream

Disclaimer: KHR! does not in any way belong to me, it's the property of Amano, etc.

Warning: Um, character death. Yeah...

* * *

**Chapter 2: Just a Dream  
**

Tsuna dreams.

He dreams he is standing in a field of tall grass, which sways gently in the breeze. The sky is cloudy, but it is not overly dark and he can see for miles. Off to the side, a dense forest rises up; the rest of the landscape is the sea of grass. The hissing sound is soothing, and Tsuna feels calm despite having no idea where he is. It's just a dream, after all.

Looking around slowly, he realizes that he is not alone. A familiar figure is walking away from him.

"Mukuro-san?" He speaks without thinking, panics when he realizes what he's done, but it's just a dream and this fact calms him immediately.

The figure halts mid step.

"Mukuro-san? Is that you!" Tsuna hurries over to the other male.

Mukuro turns smoothly, brushing his long bangs out of his eyes, emotions flickering across his features too quickly for Tsuna to identify them. (Surprise? Unease? Triumph?)

"Tsunayoshi-kun, what a surprise~" the man practically purrs, a pleased smirk tugging at his lips.

"What are you doing here, Mukuro-san?" the brunet asks, imprudently stepping closer to him. "How did you find me?"

It is an absurd question, this being a dream and all, but he asks it anyway.

"Kufufu, I was simply taking a walk; it must be you that found me," Mukuro replies easily, gazing down at the shorter male, his eyes glinting.

"You were... taking a walk?" Tsuna repeats, confused. "Aren't you- I mean, you're in V-Vendicare prison, aren't you?"

The illusionist waves a hand dismissively. "My body is bound there, but my consciousness is not," he answers, shrugging. "A better question would be how did _you_ find me?"

Tsuna blinks and looks down. "I'm dreaming," he mumbles, brow creased.

He misses the flicker of recognition in the man's mismatched eyes. "Indeed. Surely this would be a nightmare then... After everything I did to you." The words are spoken casually, yet something about Mukuro's tone causes Tsuna to glance back up.

"No, that's not the case," the brunet assures him earnestly. "You...did do horrible things, not just to me but my friends too, and Lancia-san..." He frowns and trails off, but continues a few moments later. "But you had horrible things done to you too, and I don't think you deserve to be punished in this way," he concludes sincerely.

"You don't think I deserve to be punished?" Mukuro asks, taking a step closer.

Tsuna feels a bit uncomfortable, but nothing can hurt him in a dream so he doesn't give any ground. "You do, but it's not your fault you did all those things. I think your punishment is too harsh," he states, suddenly shivering as the breeze picks up. Mukuro is standing close enough that when the wind whips his hair, Tsuna can feel it brush his face.

The man gazes at him in silence for a few moments, expression unreadable. "Thank you, Tsunayoshi-kun. Your faith in me is inspiring," he murmurs.

Tsuna flushes, his cheeks heating in the same manner they do when he talks with Kyoko-chan. "You're welcome," he stammers out, backing away several steps.

Something has happened, but the boy can't figure out what. For the rest of the dream, he and Mukuro simply discuss his life since Kokuyo Land. He relates the current battle between his family and the Varia, complaining loudly about Reborn's harsh training regime and his unwillingness to reassure Tsuna by telling him the identities of his other guardians, Lambo's brattiness and any other number of inane things, but Mukuro manages to cheer him up considerably and Tsuna even finds himself laughing with the illusionist, as if the two of them are friends.

xx

He wakes in the morning feeling confident, though the exact reason for this newfound confidence is unknown to him. Tsuna passes it off as the after effects of a good dream that he can't quite recall – which isn't anything unusual.

xx

Lambo's fight is that night. Tsuna watches with horror as Levi brutally attacks Lambo. The rules explicitly say no interference, and for a while it seems like the cow might actually win, but the Bazooka's time limit expires, and Lambo is left defenceless against Levi's attacks.

Tsuna bites his lip. _This is wrong! Lambo's just a kid, he doesn't deserve this... He doesn't even know what's going on. I have to step in-!_

And that's when it happens.

He suddenly flashes back to the strange dream from the night before.

_Mukuro gazed at him earnestly, his eyes sincere. "You must understand – the mafia is all about rules, even though certain high-ranking members are able to bend or outright break them indiscriminately," he explained, and Tsuna couldn't help but trust the illusionist's words completely. "You can't, under any circumstances, break the rules," Mukuro stressed."You may be the heir to the Vongola Famiglia, but you're not yet in a position to do anything you want. This fight will determine whether you ever will be."_

Tsuna flinches, blinking away the vestiges of the dream – but he has hesitated too long.

"Levi A Than is the winner of the Lightning Ring Battle," the Cervello intone.

"Wha- Wait, that's not- Is Lambo-?" Tsuna splutters, his mind not quite on the same track as his eyes, though the vision of gore before him is clear enough.

xx

Observing from a safe distance away, obscured by illusionary mist, Tsuna's Mist Guardian candidate smirks.

* * *

Much faster update ~ What can I say, I was inspired.

I actually wasn't specifically planning on having Lambo die, but it works out because Tsuna is going to become a more ruthless person than he is in the actual series, obviously, so losing someone important to him (even if Lambo's a big pain in the butt) is going to be key. Just a heads up, there will be a few more character deaths down the line... And I hope you're not expecting a happy ending, because you're not going to get one...

Feedback/criticism is very appreciated, of course.


	4. Storm, Rain and Mist

Disclaimer: KHR! does not in any way belong to me, it's the property of Amano, etc.

Warning: Character death. Again.

* * *

**Chapter 3: Storm, Rain and Mist  
**

Tsuna dreams, again. It is not an important dream, though, and when he wakes up in the morning he still feels numb, shell-shocked.

Lambo is still dead.

He remembers coming home from the battle. Where's Lambo, his mom asked. His parents came and picked him up, he lies, eyes aching but dry – he has not shed a tear. They're a happy family. She nods, smiles, content and oblivious.

Reborn doesn't speak to him, his gaze hidden beneath the brim of his fedora. Leon doesn't stop staring at him.

It is Gokudera's battle today.

xx

Gokudera loses, but he survives. He _survives_.

Tsuna is so happy he could cry.

"I'm sorry, Jyuudaime!" Gokudera says, mistaking the unshed tears in Tsuna's eyes for anger or perhaps despair.

"Don't ever apologize for surviving," he responds sharply, more sharply than he intended.

Gokudera's tired, bloody features register surprise, and something else. "Boss-"

Then Hibari arrives, and the moment is gone.

xx

Tsuna does not dream that night.

Yamamoto wins against Superbi Squalo. The sword emperor. Tsuna is surprised, but pleased. Worried, of course, because Yamamoto is so injured, but... He's alive, and he won.

"The next battle is between the Mist guardian candidates," the Cervello say, and Tsuna flinches – he doesn't know who his candidate is, and after the disaster with Lambo...

He begs Reborn to tell him who their candidate is, but his tutor waves him off, finally resorting to violence to silence him.

Tsuna barely sleeps, falling under just an hour before dawn.

xx

"Kufufu, there you are. I was waiting for you."

Mukuro is, after all, waiting for him. The scene has changed, a table with two chairs, one occupied, some sort of meal set upon the table, has appeared in the tall grass field. Tsuna barely notices though, and rushes the few short paces to Mukuro's side.

"L – Lambo died," he stammered, and just like that he is crying. Somehow he finds himself curled up in Mukuro's lap, hands fisted in the lapels of his coat, sobbing into his chest. "No," he mumbles against cool leather, pulling back slightly to stare up into Mukuro's face. The man's face is unreadable, but Tsuna detects sympathy in his gaze... He thinks. "I – I killed him," he corrects himself, looking away, suddenly ashamed.

"...While I don't know the exact circumstances, I cannot imagine that you, of all people, are in any way responsible for his death," Mukuro replies, one gloved hand rising to wipe away Tsuna's tears. The brunet leans into the touch, not thinking, because this is just a dream anyway, and he can do what he wants in dreams.

"But I was," he mumbles, still not looking at the illusionist. "If- If I wasn't the Vongola heir, he wouldn't have had to fight-!"

"Was it your choice to make him your guardian? Did you have any control over the Varia's actions?" Mukuro responds gently.

"I... No, Reborn chose him..."

"So it's not your fault," Mukuro concludes, giving Tsuna a smile.

"I – I guess so," he agrees, and he certainly feels better. "I mean- I'm sure there were plenty of other suitable guardian candidates, they didn't have to pick a kid! I'm still just a kid, it's not fair that I have to be the next Vongola boss- or get killed by Xanxus!"

Mukuro nods understandingly, his hands dropping to Tsuna's waist to steady the boy. "Exactly. You're just doing what you must."

"But... I still don't want people to _die_," Tsuna insists, turning to face the bluenet. "You know?"

The illusionist's lips quirk upwards, not quite a smirk. "I do know," he agrees, quietly. "You just want to live your life, without outside interference."

"Yeah... And tomorrow is the Mist battle, and I don't know who my candidate is! What if- what if it's Lambo all over again?" he mumbles, shoulders sagging.

"Ah... Is that what's bothering you now?"

Tsuna nods.

"Kufufu, in this, at least, I can ease your mind ~ The Sawada Mist candidate is none other than myself, Tsunayoshi-kun," Mukuro informs him, smirking.

"R-really, Mukuro-san?" The idea is almost too much for Tsuna to handle. The thought of Mukuro as his guardian should probably be sending off alarm bells in his mind, but the brunet only feels relief.

"Of course~ Would I lie to you?" the illusionist asks playfully.

"Yes, but I don't think you're lying about this," Tsuna replies, unable to keep from smiling shyly back. "But- you know who you're up against, right? You're not worried, are you?"

Mukuro shrugs, unconcerned. "Yes to the first, no to the second. Well, perhaps a little bit nervous..."

"I – I think you'll win. I know you'll win," Tsuna says confidently, though the source of this confidence is a mystery to him. "Tell what I can do to make you feel...not nervous."

The illusionist regards him silently for a moment, a contemplative expression in his eyes. "Perhaps a kiss~ For good luck, of course," he suggests, innocently.

For some reason, Tsuna blushes crimson, though he tells himself that Mukuro _doesn't mean it like that_. "Y – you mean on the cheek?" he stammers, but he can't look away from the bluenet.

"If that would make you feel more comfortable." He says it calmly, but Tsuna can't help but think it's a challenge. This- this is his dream, after all. He can do what he wants.

He leans forward quickly, before he can lose his resolve, brushes their lips together. Their eyes don't leave each other's gaze, so Tsuna's sees the surprise (pleased surprise) flash in Mukuro's bi-colored eyes. The contact is brief and then he's pulling back, yet Tsuna can't help but blush harder, if that is even possible. His first kiss, and he gave it to Mukuro – even if it's a dream.

"...Kufufu, I feel must better now, Tsunayoshi-kun. I won't let you down," the illusionist informs him, smirking widely, all traces of surprise gone.

"G – good," Tsuna says, smiling back. "I – I think I should go now.. I probably need to, um, wake up soon," he says, a little awkwardly.

Mukuro nods, releases his grip on the brunet's waist and Tsuna stands.

"Don't worry too much, Tsunayoshi-kun," Mukuro tells him mildly. Tsuna doesn't know what, exactly, he's not supposed to worry too much about.

xx

Tsuna wakes up. Lambo's death still weighs heavily on his mind, but he is not worried like he had been for Gokudera and Yamamoto's battle.

He meets Chrome Dokuro; she seems the antithesis of Mukuro, but it doesn't matter, because Tsuna knows that she will win the Mist battle for him. When her lips brush his cheek, he finds himself wishing she really was Mukuro, as Gokudera seems to think.

Chrome nearly dies, but Mukuro appears and saves her. He kills Mammon, or Viper, or whatever the Arcobaleno's name is. Tsuna finds himself struggling to care; it's not as if Mammon was a little kid, like Lambo. He and Reborn and Colonello may have the appearance of infants, but they are anything but, after all. They knew what they were getting into.

Tsuna walks home with Gokudera and Yamamoto, allowing the self-proclaimed right hand man and the baseball fanatic to carry the conversation.

"And he said he because it puts him in a better position to possess your body, Jyuudaime!" the Storm guardian ranted, waving his arms in outrage.

"I don't think that's his only reason, though." The words tumble out before Tsuna has time to think about them, and he feels a bit annoyed that he made such a slip.

Reborn, perched on Yamamoto's shoulder, casts a sharp glance back at him. "What do you mean? You haven't forgotten what he did to your friends, have you?" the hitman asks, his tone unreadable.

"O-of course not! I just... A lot of horrible things happened to him, and it's not... Well, yes, it's his fault that he chose to, to retaliate by targeting us but... Is it really wrong that he wanted to punish the people who did wrong in the first place? They're the ones who experimented on him and the other two," Tsuna says, hunching his shoulders defensively when his friends turn to look at him.

"...There are other ways to go about doing justice," Reborn says, finally, in a tone that brooks no argument.

"The Vindice, you mean?" Tsuna asks, frowning. "They let the experiments go on for, for years, didn't they? And they let Xanxus attack innocent people... That's not justice."

"Then when you're Vongola boss, you can begin making the changes you want to see," the Arcobaleno snaps.

"Hey, about that," Yamamoto puts in, smiling apologetically for interrupting, though he just wanted to lighten the mood, no doubt. "Do you think Hibari's going to win? I mean, he's strong, no doubt about that, but that Gola Mosca guy seems pretty intense."

"He'd better!" Gokudera says loudly, and the two begin bickering. Tsuna listens with half an ear, mulling over the brief conversation with his tutor. Reborn had never once mentioned that he didn't know the Estraneo experiments were going now; and he doesn't seem overly sympathetic to Mukuro's cause, either.

_But he's a hitman, after all. They're supposed to be remorseless killers. And Mukuro's killed people too, he killed Mammon and it didn't upset him either._

Tsuna frowned and put the thought out of his mind. He needed to prepare for tomorrow. The Varia needed to win the next match to tie things up with them, and that meant Tsuna would have to fight Xanxus... But if Hibari won, it pretty much guaranteed that Tsuna would become the next Vongola boss, right? Obviously he didn't want Hibari to lose, but he didn't want to be Vongola boss, either...

* * *

Eh. My updates are going to be random, always. :3

So, Mammon died. Fran will probably be turning up soon, then ~ As soon as the Inheritance arc is done, the story will become more and more AU, and they won't all be from Muku/Tsuna's POV. I've got a few ideas lined up.

Anyway... Does anyone have any suggestions for a Lambo replacement? There aren't many Lightning mafiosi... mafiosos... Whatever, there aren't many of them out there. I was thinking maybe I could fudge the details and make a non-Lightning person suddenly have a Lightning attribute? I don't really want to involve any OCs more than necessary.

As always, feedback/criticism is greatly appreciated. :)


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